"Neither does going in as a group. if you buy 1 ticket and hypothetically it's 1:5billion. if you buy 5, it is no longer 1:5billion, you've added 5 tickets to the equation. statistically speaking, you gain no advantage over buying more than one ticket.

But if there are 100 people playing and you are one of them (99+1), that isn't the same combination if you buy two tickets, because now there are 101 people (99+2). with the large numbers of people playing, most people don't have the cash to purchase all combinations of the lottery, so really statistically you have no better chance of winning than if you just bought one. if you buy more, you also increase the possibility that you are going to share winnings. if you also buy more, you also have the chance of losing more. so figure in all three factors and i'll stick with buying just one lottery ticket.

Oh, and the odds of winning the jackpot doesn't change regardless of the number of people. your odds remain the same for every ticket that you have. it's not a cumulative thing. for example, every ticket you possess for Powerball has the same odds: 1 in 175,223,510 no matter how many people play. The Mega Millions odds are 1 in 175,711,536 for each ticket you hold regardless of how many people play. each of your tickets represents a person playing."

Have to disagree with you there. Buying more tickets ABSOLUTELY increases your chances. Although that increase is small it's real. To simplify:

1 ticket in 1 million combinations is .000001 % odds

10 tickets in the same drawing would increase your odds to .00001%

100 tickets .0001% etc

Even just adding 1+1 you go from .000001 to .000002% chance of winning. Obviously negligible but it DOES increase your chances. Pretty simple math really.

ODDS and CHANCES are two different things when it comes to lotteries. You should research it. Todd can explain it. http://m.wikihow.com/Figure-Your-Odds-of-Holding-a-Winning-Lottery-Ticket

The odds to win mega millions or powerball never change. It is the game matrix equation against every ticket or chance you have. Every ticket represents a person playing or a chance against odds of 1 in 175 millions for mega millions and powerball.

Have to disagree with you there. Buying more tickets ABSOLUTELY increases your chances. Although that increase is small it's real. To simplify:

1 ticket in 1 million combinations is .000001 % odds

10 tickets in the same drawing would increase your odds to .00001%

100 tickets .0001% etc

Even just adding 1+1 you go from .000001 to .000002% chance of winning. Obviously negligible but it DOES increase your chances. Pretty simple math really.

Bigheadnick,

Currengtly there are 123,870 members here on LP.

Have them each go $1 for MM or $2 for PB and they would have to hit a jackpot, no?

Using a round number and calling the odds against each game 175,000,000 to one, each line of number plays reduces the number of possible combinations by one combination, that's all it can possibly do.

Using your theory above anyone with a large enough bankroll could whittle the chances down to a 'guaranteed' winner or even a + for them. Doesn't happen.

One and only one line of numbers are drawn, one combination only. Leaving 174,999,999 not drawn. So if you play ten combinations, whooppee! - your chances for each combination are still 1 in 175,000,000.

The only ones who promote such ideas are selling tickets or a system.

And here we go because many here don't believe this.

Those who run the lotteries love it when players look for consistency in something that's designed not to have any.

There is one and only one 'proven' system, and that is to book the action. No matter the game, let the players pick their own losers.

"Neither does going in as a group. if you buy 1 ticket and hypothetically it's 1:5billion. if you buy 5, it is no longer 1:5billion, you've added 5 tickets to the equation. statistically speaking, you gain no advantage over buying more than one ticket.

But if there are 100 people playing and you are one of them (99+1), that isn't the same combination if you buy two tickets, because now there are 101 people (99+2). with the large numbers of people playing, most people don't have the cash to purchase all combinations of the lottery, so really statistically you have no better chance of winning than if you just bought one. if you buy more, you also increase the possibility that you are going to share winnings. if you also buy more, you also have the chance of losing more. so figure in all three factors and i'll stick with buying just one lottery ticket.

Oh, and the odds of winning the jackpot doesn't change regardless of the number of people. your odds remain the same for every ticket that you have. it's not a cumulative thing. for example, every ticket you possess for Powerball has the same odds: 1 in 175,223,510 no matter how many people play. The Mega Millions odds are 1 in 175,711,536 for each ticket you hold regardless of how many people play. each of your tickets represents a person playing."

Buying more tickets does in fact improve your odds. You have odds and chances mixed up. Your odds get mathematically better the more tickets you buy, but your overall chances remain low.

"Neither does going in as a group. if you buy 1 ticket and hypothetically it's 1:5billion. if you buy 5, it is no longer 1:5billion, you've added 5 tickets to the equation. statistically speaking, you gain no advantage over buying more than one ticket.

But if there are 100 people playing and you are one of them (99+1), that isn't the same combination if you buy two tickets, because now there are 101 people (99+2). with the large numbers of people playing, most people don't have the cash to purchase all combinations of the lottery, so really statistically you have no better chance of winning than if you just bought one. if you buy more, you also increase the possibility that you are going to share winnings. if you also buy more, you also have the chance of losing more. so figure in all three factors and i'll stick with buying just one lottery ticket.

Oh, and the odds of winning the jackpot doesn't change regardless of the number of people. your odds remain the same for every ticket that you have. it's not a cumulative thing. for example, every ticket you possess for Powerball has the same odds: 1 in 175,223,510 no matter how many people play. The Mega Millions odds are 1 in 175,711,536 for each ticket you hold regardless of how many people play. each of your tickets represents a person playing."

ODDS and CHANCES are two different things when it comes to lotteries. You should research it. Todd can explain it. http://m.wikihow.com/Figure-Your-Odds-of-Holding-a-Winning-Lottery-Ticket

The odds to win mega millions or powerball never change. It is the game matrix equation against every ticket or chance you have. Every ticket represents a person playing or a chance against odds of 1 in 175 millions for mega millions and powerball.

Chance of winning +/- odds. Of course the odds/chances against each individual ticket remain the same, however each ticket you buy knocks off a potential combination thereby effectively increasing your CUMULATIVE or OVERALL odds of winning. If it's 1 combination out of a possible 175 million that wins, You still can increase your CUMULATIVE/OVERALL odds by playing more tickets/combinations. Granted, the difference is neglegible but it IS a difference.

Anytime more numbers are involved, chances of a win are also increased. However, on the really big games like Mega, Power Ball, 6/54 etc., it's unclear on whether it's better to play one's own numbers over and over, or, have some QP's kicked out. Both have won almost equally as far as I've read. The larger games have just too many numbers for a player to try and "put together" the winning numbers on a single try. Personally, I've had QP's match 4 of 5 just as I matched 4 of 5 by playing the same numbers over and over for weeks on end.

Have them each go $1 for MM or $2 for PB and they would have to hit a jackpot, no?

Using a round number and calling the odds against each game 175,000,000 to one, each line of number plays reduces the number of possible combinations by one combination, that's all it can possibly do.

Using your theory above anyone with a large enough bankroll could whittle the chances down to a 'guaranteed' winner or even a + for them. Doesn't happen.

One and only one line of numbers are drawn, one combination only. Leaving 174,999,999 not drawn. So if you play ten combinations, whooppee! - your chances for each combination are still 1 in 175,000,000.

The only ones who promote such ideas are selling tickets or a system.

And here we go because many here don't believe this.

Yes for each combination your chances are the same. That's not what I said , I said your OVERALL chance to win will increase with each combo you play. I kinda thought this would be obvious. You play 10 combos at 175 mil to 1 , yes it's still 175 mill to 1 for each but Overall it's 175 mill to 10.

As far as a big bankroller buying all the combinations, Of course it doesn't happen because the jackpot will never be big enough to make it profitible. The logistics alone of buying all the combos are mind boggling.

If all 123,870 members of LP each bought a different combo for a lotto with 175million combinations the odds of 1 of us having the winning ticket would be .00014. I'm pretty sure that's no garantee lol as you seem to think I'm suggesting. The odds are still better than .0000000175

Some people can't understand some things no matter how simple or obvious they are. Here's an explanation I've used before in trying to explain it to people who are challenged by the obvious.

Sort all 175,711,536 possible combinations into 2 groups of 87,855,768 based on whether the mega ball is odd or even. Buy 1 ticket with a mega ball number that's odd and 1 ticket with a mega ball number that's even. If the mega ball number in the winning combination is odd you have a 1 in 87,855,768 chance of winning. If the mega ball number in the winning combination is even you have a 1 in 87,855,768 chance of winning. Since the only possible results are that the mega ball is odd or it's even your 2 tickets gives you a 1 in 87,855,768 chance of winning.

The same reasoning makes it obvious that buying 46 tickets makes you 46 times as likely to win. Buy 1 combination for each mega ball number, and no matter what mega ball number is drawn you have a 1 in 3,819,816 chance of having the 5 regular numbers that were drawn on the ticket with that mega ball number.

I would think that this would make it completely obvious to even the dumbest of people, but experience has proven me wrong.

Some people can't understand some things no matter how simple or obvious they are. Here's an explanation I've used before in trying to explain it to people who are challenged by the obvious.

Sort all 175,711,536 possible combinations into 2 groups of 87,855,768 based on whether the mega ball is odd or even. Buy 1 ticket with a mega ball number that's odd and 1 ticket with a mega ball number that's even. If the mega ball number in the winning combination is odd you have a 1 in 87,855,768 chance of winning. If the mega ball number in the winning combination is even you have a 1 in 87,855,768 chance of winning. Since the only possible results are that the mega ball is odd or it's even your 2 tickets gives you a 1 in 87,855,768 chance of winning.

The same reasoning makes it obvious that buying 46 tickets makes you 46 times as likely to win. Buy 1 combination for each mega ball number, and no matter what mega ball number is drawn you have a 1 in 3,819,816 chance of having the 5 regular numbers that were drawn on the ticket with that mega ball number.

I would think that this would make it completely obvious to even the dumbest of people, but experience has proven me wrong.

Hey KY, I think referring to any percentage of our LP members as "dumbest of people" was a pretty "dumb" remark on your part.

Even Einstein had humility and respect for those not as gifted as he. If you show respect you'll receive in return. In your case you

"Neither does going in as a group. if you buy 1 ticket and hypothetically it's 1:5billion. if you buy 5, it is no longer 1:5billion, you've added 5 tickets to the equation. statistically speaking, you gain no advantage over buying more than one ticket.

But if there are 100 people playing and you are one of them (99+1), that isn't the same combination if you buy two tickets, because now there are 101 people (99+2). with the large numbers of people playing, most people don't have the cash to purchase all combinations of the lottery, so really statistically you have no better chance of winning than if you just bought one. if you buy more, you also increase the possibility that you are going to share winnings. if you also buy more, you also have the chance of losing more. so figure in all three factors and i'll stick with buying just one lottery ticket.

Oh, and the odds of winning the jackpot doesn't change regardless of the number of people. your odds remain the same for every ticket that you have. it's not a cumulative thing. for example, every ticket you possess for Powerball has the same odds: 1 in 175,223,510 no matter how many people play. The Mega Millions odds are 1 in 175,711,536 for each ticket you hold regardless of how many people play. each of your tickets represents a person playing."